Bearish Hopes Battered

I'm not even waiting for the end of the trading day to do this post.

Now that the indexes have sliced through the highs of March 26, bearish hopes for a softer market are - for the umpteenth time - destroyed. At this point, only surprisingly weak Q1 earnings........or a totally unexpected world event....is going to slow this market down.

From a charting perspective, the market is in full-blown bull mode, with the only resistance being that major support line that was decisively broken in late February. The market certainly still has more room on the upside.


Since I'm weary of showing potentially bearish charts that get swept up in this bull mania, I'm going to switch hats and offer a few bullish ideas. Dril Quip (DRQ):


Greif.....just look at that volume surge.... (GEF):


Health Net (HNT):


Holix (HOLX):


Jacobs (JEC):


Schlumberger (SLB):


Questar (STR):


I'm sure the naysayers that hang out in the comments section are delighted at the misery of the bears (and, more specifically, me!) Well, that's the market for ya. 99 times out of 100, it belongs to the bulls. Days like February 27 come along only once in a blue moon.

I hope some of you find some good fodder in the charts above.

Pain in 3-D

"That's why I'm looking this bull straight in the face and laughing at it. Savor the moment, pal. You're about to get wasted."

Whoops! I figured it out! I wasn't looking at a bull! I was looking at a mirror! My bad.

Well, look. Today hurt. It hurt bad. I got blasted out of a bunch of positions. And I notice the comments board has gone bananas. I don't even want to set foot into that place. It's probably like a bar fight by now.


But this is something to keep in mind - - I can deal with getting blown out of positions. But I don't hang on. That's why I say, over and over - always have a stop in place. Always! Take PNRA, for instance. I bought puts on it. Some people said I was wrong to do so. Turns out they were right. That's fine. I can deal with the loss. But if I had just hung on (past the circled point, where I got pushed out of the position), now that would be stupid.


As enamored as I've been with OIH shorts, I closed out my energy shorts today, including OIH. I think the selling in energy and gold is really overdone. There are hammer patterns all over the place today!

So I'm going to blow away my reputation as a permabear by offering what I think are interesting stocks to consider buying (yes, buying) or buying calls on (that's right - I said calls). I still have lots of put positions, and plenty of shorts. But there's no denying the force of buying at this point. (By the way, the meaning of the 3D in my subject title today means 3 Digits - - a triple point rise in the Dow). And so I offer these tickers for your consideration. The stop prices should be pretty obvious........(and I've included volume where I think it's important):

Google (GOOG) which looks like it's pushing through a medium term trendline.


HOV:


HRS:


JEC:


MEE, which was a great short for a while and now seems to be firming up:


MLM:


NEM which is a good play on a bounce in gold:


NOV:


OII:


PBR:


PXD:


RBAK, which is looking really fantastic, particularly when you check out the volume:


RYL:


SII:


X, which is nearing a supporting trendline:


And, finally, the $XAU (gold/silver index) which, yes, looks like a massive head and shoulders pattern, but in my opinion is really at a major support line right now and is quite oversold.


Before anyone starts running around saying the top is here because Trader Tim the Permabear is buying stuff, let me be clear - I've still got plenty of shorts. I still think the market is ultimately in for a big wipe-out. But there are plenty of stocks right now, especially related to energy and metals, that look really sweet on the upside.

Now - - - back to eating my humble pie.